Influence of doped-charge transport layers on the photovoltaic performance of donor-acceptor blend p-i-n type organic solar cells

This report demonstrates external power conversion efficiencies of 2% under 100 mW/cm2 simulated AM1.5 illumination for organic thin-film photovoltaic cells using a phthalocyanine-fullerene (ZnPc/C60) bulk heterojunction as an active layer, embedded into a p-i-n type architecture with doped wide-gap charge transport layers. For an optically optimized device, we found internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of above 80% under short circuit conditions. Such optically thin cells with high internal quantum efficiency are an important step towards high efficiency tandem cells. The p-i-n architecture allows for the design of solar cells with high internal quantum efficiency where only the photoactive region absorbs visible light and recombination losses at contacts are avoided. The I-V characteristics, power conversion efficiencies, the dependence of short circuit current on incident white light intensity, incident photon to collected electron efficiency (IPCE) and absorption spectra of the active layer system are discussed. KEY WORDS: Doped-charge transport layers, Organic solar cells, Photovoltaic cells,Phthalocyanine-fullerene  Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2004, 18(1), 101-109

Trends in Competitive Balance: Is There Evidence for Growing Imbalance in Professional Sport Leagues?

The concept of competitive balance is a central aspect in the literature of sports economics. A popular argumentation of sport functionaries is that dominance of one or a few teams could lead to unequal incomes for the clubs, restrictions in the clubs' ability to improve sporting performance and ultimately to a loss of attractiveness and loss of income for the league. Following this line of reasoning and alleging a negative trend in competitive sports functionaries often try to implement regulations in team sport leagues. The aim of this paper is to analyze for eight different leagues if there is such a trend existing. For an empirical test for trends in competitive balance of four European soccer leagues (ENG, ESP, GER, ITA) and four US Major Leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL), OLS regressions with a constant were carried out. For the entire observation period from 1969/70 to 2003/2004, of 48 trends ascertained, only 12 could be observed as being significantly positive (i.e. growing imbalance) with 19 significantly negative (i.e. growing balance). The remaining 17 trends were insignificantly different from zero

Stadium Architecture and Regional Economic Development: International Experience and the Plans of Durban

For the FIFA World Cup 2010, South Africa plans to invest heavily. The positive economic effects that the country is hoping for stand in contrast to almost all statistical ex-post studies. This contribution emphasises that these results, usually from research under-taken in the USA, can only be generalised to a limited degree. The density of sports venues in developed countries is so high, that the marginal effects of new stadia are necessarily limited. We also emphasise that stadium design around the world was not hitherto adequately targeted towards positive economic effects. The example of Durban and its plans for a new iconic stadium is used to illustrate fundamental principles of stadium design and their embedding in a re-urbanisation process that have to be undertaken in order to consciously achieve positive regional economic effects

Chapter X: The Tour de France: a success story in spite of competitive imbalance and doping

International audienceThe chapter goes as follows. In the first section it is demonstrated how the Tour de France is a high quality product. This is a result from its accurate design, its management, its economic model and its finance structure, both in comparison to other mega-sporting events and with reference to tournament theory. It is not easy to assess the competitive balance in the Tour de France since, as was demonstrated in chapter 10, it is at the same time an individual and a team sport contest. After reviewing some results published in literature so far, a new metrics for evaluating competitive balanced in the Tour de France is presented in section 2. Finally, the Tour de France cannot ignore doping as a potential threat to fan attendance and TV viewing. We therefore discuss the issue of doping and a new procedure to deal with doping in section 3

Assessing External Effects of City Airports: Land Values in Berlin

This paper employs a hedonic price model to explain standard land values in Berlin. Impact on land values is assessed for the two city airports situated in Berlin, Germany, Tempelhof and Tegel. Empirical results confirm expectations about the impact of various attributes on land values. Areas exposed to noise pollution of downtown airport Tempelhof sell at a discount of approximately 5-9% within a distance of 5000 m along the air corridor. No significantly negative impact was found for land values around Tegel Airport, which is located in a central, but less densely populated, area. Market access indicators created for all three Berlin airports in operation, including Berlin Schoenefeld International Airport, reveal clear location advantages in terms of accessibility of Tempelhof and Tegel compared to Schoenefeld Airport, where the new Berlin Brandenburg International Airport is about to be developed

Regional and Sectoral Effects of a Common Monetary Policy: Evidence from Euro Referenda in Denmark and Sweden

This article provides empirical evidence for the (anticipated) net costs and benefits of a common monetary policy that varies across regions depending on the industry mix. The paper is the first to approach the issue of the regional and sectoral effects of a common monetary policy by using empirical spatial models to analyze referenda. Here, the referenda examined are the 2000 and 2003 referenda held in Denmark and Sweden regarding participation in the EMU. We find that voters in regions with a high proportion of interest-sensitive sectors and low international integration tend to oppose participation in a currency union. The opposite is true for non-interest-sensitive sectors with relatively high integration. These findings are in line with the hypothesis of rational voters maximizing utility. Furthermore, perceived net costs are found to increase with distance from the European core and with the age of voters, indicating that a national currency represents an experience good. These results are robust to spatial dependencies and are not driven by broader forms of Euro-skepticism

Open-system orchestration as a relational source of sensing capabilities: Evidence from a venture association

Research on innovation networks has highlighted the pivotal role that actors with more prominence and power, such as hub firms, may play in orchestrating the activities of other network members along a collective innovation effort. Our study examined the undertheorized, but no less important, type of orchestration that characterizes other organizations, such as business incubators and venture associations, who seek to support the dispersed entrepreneurial efforts of network members. We refer to this type as ‘open-system’ orchestration, as opposed to the commonly studied ‘closed-system’ type performed by hub firms. Our findings reveal how the processes of open-system orchestration differ markedly from those of closed-system orchestration, and detail how these processes influence the micro-foundations of network members’ sensing capabilities. By doing so, we also offer empirical substantiation and theoretical elaboration to the idea that dynamic capabilities might not reside exclusively inside firms, but could be co-created relationally with other parties in the business ecosystem